Lucy Pettway interview

1
Interview with Lucy Pettway
Date of Interview : April 24 , 1980 ; Gee's Bend , Alabama
Interviewer : Kathryn Tucker Windham
Transcriber : Edna O. Meek
Begin Side 1. Tape 1
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTVT :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway : ·
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW:
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
Did you get your garden planted by Good Friday?
No, ma ' am . I got a little bit , but it wasn ' t
much .
It was too wet . wasn ' t it?
Yes , ma ' am .
Now , did your father build this house?
Yes , ma ' am . He was the foreman . He had help .
Somebody else helped .
Was this one of those project houses?
Yes , ma ' am . It was a project house. But you
see , he already made the poles for his other
house and he just put them on this one . See,
the government furnished all the lumber you
wanted . Had a sawmill up there and they hauled
the logs up there and that ' s where the lumber
come on down here . He was t he foreman of this
house. He had a crew of men , just like I say
you the boss over ' em ; you got a crew of women ,
the next lady , your sister or your sister- in - law
got a crew , like that , that ' s the way it was .
Little Pettway had a crew and Nelson Pettway had
a crew , and my daddy had a crew.
And your daddy was named ••••• ?
Tom O. Pettway. My mother was named Mary Anne
Pettway.
And how old were you when this house was built?
About nineteen .
next birthday I
I believe
would have
I was nineteen .
been twenty .
My
Were you married then , or were you still living
a thorne?
I was still living at home . I ain ' t never been
married.
Still a home child?
Yes , ma ' am. Hard workin ' . Oh, it ' s ups and
downs , but God willin ', I ' ll make it.
Well , what was the house like that you lived in
before you moved in this house?
It was a double house , with a chimney on :,this
end and one on the other. And the chimney on
this end was our room . We had three back rooms ,
we had a smokehouse and a dining room. That what
you call the meal room . I call it the dinin '
room. ' cause we eat back there sometime. And
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTlI :
1. Pettway :
2
another bedroom in back there . We slept in
the room where the chimney on this end , and my
father and mother and the little chilrun slept
in the other room . Until we got over here.
How many children werem your family?
Then ? Or then all of ' em? Lemme see . It was
seven of us .
Seven children and your mother and father.
' Scusin ' one that was dead .
And did you cook in the fireplace . or where?
Yes , ma ' am . On the fireplace . First stove we
had was in here . The government furnished the
stoves and the pump . It was the first stove
we had . The pump was in the back yard . And we
had a fireplace , a place to cook . That was my
mother ' s and f ather ' s room. This was our room .
That was the boys ' room back there . That ' s the
kitchen . And we had a screen porch on the back .
And a nice yard , a nice garden . Think it was
half an acre or a whole acre one , f0r a garden .
House used to sit right out in fromt . Cotton used
to be back here .
And your old house was in front of this house?
Yes , ma ' am . And my daddy used to
smith. He could sharpen sweeps .
could do whatever had to be done .
sharpen hoes , anything . He ' d put
fire and take ' em out and sharpen
Could he sha rpen saws . too?
be a black­I
mean he
He could farm,
' em in the
' em .
Anything. My brother . Paul , he could sharpen
saws . My brother . Joe , and my brother . Tom .
All the family could sharpen~ They ' d sharpen
saws .
That ' s hard to do . they tell me ..
My brother , Paul . he can beat out hoes
and sweeps and they would sharpen ' em .
do all of that .
and points
They ' d
And he learned that from his daddy . didn ' t he?
Yes , ma ' am . He really did. I used to go down
there . You know , IiI chillun used to get them
tongs and hold them things , beat out a nail ,
flatten out a nail . That what we used to do ,
me and my brother. Then we had to tie out cows ,
carry the cows and tie . and go at 12: 00 o ' clock
and get ' em and carry ' em to the pond and let ' em
drink . Then bring ' em back and tie ' em in a
fresh place . Go back in the e venin ' and bring ' em
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pett way:
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
3
home at night . Ge t up the next marnin ' and
milk . feed t he hogs . You know, it was rough , but
it was better then than it is now, ' cause we
had plenty peas to pick all of July . Dr ied
peas . And green peas and t hings . Put them up .
Sometime my mother would make us beat out peas
in the winter time on Saturday, a nd shell some
corn to feed , you know , cook ' em and put ' em
in a pot and put it in a can or somethin ' or
' nother and feed the hogs the next week . Talk
about fine hogs ! We had plenty of them .
You mean like in a wash pot out in the yard ? Cook
that hard corn in it ' til it was softened up
for the pigs ?
Yes , ma ' am . Sho ' did , with some oak ashes or
hickory ashes or some thin ' like that . a nd give
it to the hogs t he next week . We had plenty of
feed . And peanuts and things . We used to make
them . And the gove r nment had a firehouse up
there from where the postoffice is. It was a
red sto r e . I reckon you remember the old store.
And gin house and mill house and little toilets .
And then they had a f iretru ek . Had a big truck
to go pick up things to bring in here . and then
they had a pender pi cke r up there . My father
and me . we got all the penders out the f i eld and
brought ' em up ther e and full up the barn loft
with ' em , and that pender picker come around
there and we picked off so many bushels of
penders . We had ' em in a stack. One stack down
ther e and one up he r e . We j ust . you know . got
' em off. And we picked ' em off every chance
we ' d get . In the evenin ' and on Sa turday.
we ' d pick ' em off . I ' m gain ' to try to have
some like that this year. if I li~e and nothin '
happen . .
We r e they those Ii t t le bi tty peanuts or were they
tho s e great long ones ?
Some of ' em had f our in ' em . and some of ' em had
two in ' em. Sometime you see one in t here. And
then we have some scratch penders . Alabama
Runners . that ' s the name of ' em . but you can ' t
f ind them now .
I hadn ~ t heard of them in a while.
Them scratch penders . Oh. boy. The government
give ' em , gettin ' the people to seed those pea­nuts
. and my mother saved ' em , but they s t opped
plantin ' them one year and I ain ' t never had no
more sin ce . I would like to ha ve some now.
' Cause they the best .
Did you ever plant any chufas ?
I don ' t know what that is.
They ' re kinda like
in as big a vine .
o f grass , almost.
peanuts . but they don ' t grow
They grow in like a clump
Pull it up. and i t has the
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
sweetest little nuts on the bottom of them .
And deer love them . I know hunters sometime
plant chufas . And wild turkeys like them .
4
Well . maybe that ' s what that wild turkey be doin '
out there in that pasture . After you pass that
last house where that green grass , they stroll .
Look like cows be over there , but they turkeys .
Well , maybe they ' re looking for them .
Lot of ' em be over there soon in the marnin ' and
late in the evenin '. They be out there .
How did your mother manage to cook on the open
fire? Did she cook in pots , or what did she use
for cooking?
She had a skillet . Get you a shovel and put your
coal down . then put the grease in your skillet ,
set that skillet over them coals , then put the
lid on that fire , let it get hot and knock it up
side there , and after you put the bread on , put
the lid on top of it , get some fire and put on top
of it , and let it br own . Every now and then
you ' d look in there .
And you had to be careful when you looked , didn ' t
you?
Yes , ma ' am . Keep from droppin ' some ashes in
the r e . But it was some good bread. Make ash
cake . put that fire back , make up that bread
and pat in in there , put it in there and cover
it up. cover it up and get out there and wash
them ashes off . and you talk about some good
eatin ' bread !
And would it have the print of your fingers on
it where you . .. ...• ?
That ' s right. Sho ' did. And put peanuts in a
skillet in some coals , too . It ' s real good like
that . And fry up the meat . But that fire be so
hot to my head . when I get through fryin' meat .
My Mother started me cookin ' when I was seven
years old.
Were you the oldest girl?
No ' m. I the next to oldest girl . It ' s a boy
between me and my oldest sister . And a boy
older t han her . It was seven boys and se ven
girls . Fourteen in all . And I used to plow when
I was cornin ' up . I used to cover up • . . When I
wasn ' t old enough to plant corn , I was coverin '
up corn. My daddy drapped it and my br other put
out fertilizer , and I covered up.
You ' d be the last one in the line?
That ' s right. that ' s right . And so my daddy .
then he ' d put out the fertilizer. Sometime he ' d
let my brother put ou t the fertilizer , and he ' d
plant the cotton with the mule and plow . And
he ' d put me in the front , about six or seven
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
I.
KTW :
L. Pettway:
KTW :
L. Pettway :
rows . r akin '. I gotta rake all the r ows .
the corn . I had to cover up all the corn .
peas and peanuts and things. I ' m tellin '
Bust the middles out the cotton .
And your daddy had his own mule ?
5
But
And
you !
His own mule .
or two years.
One year we had cows to plow .
I forget what year that was .
One
They we r e government cows ?
Yes . ma ' am . The gover nmen t give them to us .
Lightnin ' hi t one of ' em right down there and
kilt him . And we used to be way down in t hat
s wamp. If it go to thunder and lightnin ', us
take the cows and be on us way home . Sometime
we have to tie ' em up side the road , and then
we had to run and walk ' til us get home . Some
of them cows you could r ide , and some of ' em
they wouldn ' t let you r i de . They just won ' t act
ri ght . They go up under them t r ees and knock
you off . And when it get about 10 : 00 O' clock ,
where ver water is , t hey gain ' f ind that water and
go stand up in there and cool them hoofs . They
run away . Tear your plow up .
Now , these were ox en , weren ' t they ?
Yes , ma ' am . They ' s oxen . And my daddy made a
ox yoke and made one them little things with the
two wheelan it , the ox wagon , t hat what it for ,
corn and cotton and t hings , but we rode in the
field and out with it .
Whatever happened to that ox wagon ?
It got torn up . It just wen t down to
And then my daddy go t another wagon .
ho rs e wagon .
no thin ' .
Mules and
Were they solid wheels on that ox wagon , or did
they have spokes ?
Just like a wagon . See , the back part of the
wagon wheel was tore up , and my daddy took the
f r ont part and made t he ox wagon . I used to
lo ve to ride in it , too . We ' d haul all our
wood , you know . Like on the week- end , we ' d
go back and get some wood , ' cause that ' s what we
used to cook on in the stove in the kitchen . We
had a fi r e in there , in the cook stove , until I
got that . (Present stove.)
Well , i t took your mother a while to learn how
to cook on a cook stove , didn ' t it?
Her mother had one . She knowed how to cook on
it , ' cause her mo t her had one . But afte r she
mar ried , she had to get back used to the fire .
That where she learned how to cook , on the
fire . But her mother had a s t ove and she
cooked on it. She ' d go up there and cook for
her mother .
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
6
Well , it ' s a lot more convenient , I know .
Yes , ma ' am . I can set in here , get up and go
put on my food . And I don ' t even have to look
at my bread , if I set my stove to the right
number . I can smell it brownin ' and go in
there and take it out and cut the stove off
n ow . That ' s a lot convenient . but I ' m payin '
out money .
That ' s right . And the other was free , wasn ' t it?
That ' s right . The only thing you had to do was
go get you some wood .
It was mighty good , too , wasn ' t it?
Yes , ma ' am. And then milkin ' them cows and
churnin ' your own milk , and you know , gettin '
your own butter . Cookin ' it . strainin ' it
and puttin ' it in them jars . You had your own
butter. You didn ' t have to go to no store to
buy no butter.
Amd wasn ' t it good ?
Yes , ma ' am . You had your own hogs . And you ' d
fatten them hogs , kill your own hogs ; you made
your own lard. Back then you had your own
cracklins . You had your own white potatoes .
Everything you needed , you had it . It ' s right
there. You could get it.
That ' s right. Sugar cane , made syrup out of it .
That ' s right. Well , you know ,
give us some cane back there.
they called that cane.
the government
Lemme see what
Ribbon cane or sorghum ?
It was ribbon cane , but it warn ' t no
cane. It was called another thing.
Clarence got some over there now.
real ribbon
Buddy
It was called something like POJ , or something
like that.
I don ' t know what they called it , but it wasn ' t
no really ribbon cane . But it was somethin '
else. I can ' t call the name of it . I done
forgot , but anyway, we had some of that , too .
We used to have it down side there and it really
made . And then you could cut it down and bale
it out , or either make your rows up and drop
it where you wanted it to go . Wrap up the roots
with your lister , you know . put a list on each
side of the row. It ' ll come back , come back out
that next year. That ' s right . Had a lot of cane.
We made syrup off it one year. And then the hogs
went to rootin ' it up and nobody keepin ' up
L . Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L . Pettway:
7
their hogs and they ITust rooted it on out the
ground. I been talkin ' about g e ttin ' some more ,
but I haven't got it back y e t .
When you churned , did you ever sing , or have a
little song when you churned?
Yes, ma ' am.
I used to have one that said , IICome butter, come. 11
11 Come butter,
at the gate .
come .
Come ,
You did that , too?
Little white girl standin '
butter , come ."
My Auntie Irene used to sing that , when we was
little chilrun. We was raised in our grandmama's
yard. My daddy didn ' t leave us at home. He
always take us over to his mother ' s house.
That where we grew up. Vinie , and me and
Clinton and Ernest , and all, we grew up over there .
While your mother was in the field with your
daddy?
Yes, ma ' am. They ' d come get us in the evenin ',
come back home. But we stayed in my grandmama ' s
yard. And we had a long old wooden tray, you
know. People used to have them trays . And
is a hole was in it . she ' d take a hot crust.
She cooked that bread outdoors in an open fire .
and she ' d take that hot crust and stick it in
that hole , mash that milk and bread up and put
it in that tray. and give us one spoon . The
oldest one got to eat with the spoon , and it
goin ' all the way around the tray. Just a gang
of us settin' ' round there, eatin!. You can ' t
do that now . Not with these set of chillun
comin ' on.
You'd take turns.
That ' s right. This one get a mouthful and eat ,
the next one get the spoon . He 'd get through
with it, he'd give it to the next one. But the
peoples didn ' t have no spoons then. They just
really didn ' t have none. And greens and corn ,
we used to eat with our hands . But I had a
risin ' on my finger , and I didn ' t eat no collard
greens with my hand. I ain ' t never learned how
to eat with this hand here ' til then . And when
that hand here was sick , all the skin come all
the way away from ' round there . and I just catch
the end of it there and pull it up , and my Lord !
I could just see myself now , layin ' in there with
that arm a - tremble . And I couldn ' t stand for
nothin ' to fan by. it hurt so bad. And I ' ve done
without eatin ' with that hand there . I mean ,
I had to learn back how, about six months after
it got well. It had tender skin on it. Ever y­thin
' hurt it so. So my mother made a rag to
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
8
put over my hand and put a ruffle right here
and put a draw string in it and tied it up here.
I couldn ' t use that. Everything I go to do , I
washed with this hand , I sweep the yard with
this hand . I wouldn ' t bother this one . I say ,
" I just can ' t use this hand . I don ' t believe
I ' ll never use that hand no more . 1I Every now and
then a pain hit me and go up in that hand . Hurt
a long time .
It ' s a wonder you hadn ' t lost that finger , isn ' t
it?
I didn ' t lost it , but my sister had a bonefelon
in one of her fingers. I just remember now . It' s
just like , you ever see a sandspur? It ' s just
like a sandspur. Dr. Dickson opened that finger
and got it out from there . And it just like ••••
my daddy used to tell us about it . He always
kept it in a little glass in his trunk , and I look
at it , I say, IIWhere it was? l1 And he ' d tell me ,
llRight there , right there in her finger . It And
I ' d say, IIHow ' d it get there ?1I And I feel my
fingers every mornin ' when I get up to see is I
gct. one of ' em . I didn ' t want that , you know . I
just feel my f ingers . I had two cows to milk
and she have two to milk . And sometime she ' d have
two to milk and I ' d have one to milk. And I
had to milk all her cows , see to her calf, put
calf over yonder . And then go tie out her cows
and mine , too . And , see , I had two burdens. I
had my burden and hers , too . And I said , II Lord ,
ha ve mercy!" And then the po ' cri t ter couldn ' t
pick no cotton . Lord , I need to had them hands
where I didn ' t had to pick no cotton . I never
was a person to ca tch the same di seas e my sis ters
and brothers had , ' cause that was my sister ,
and she had the seven year itch . The itch was
gain ' ' round , and they ' d just scratch ' til they
get bloody . I never did have it . I slept with
her every night .
Well , what did they put on that? Lard? SUlphur?
I don ' t know nothin ' my mother put on it. My
grandmother brought somethin ' there to put on
it , but I never did find out what it was , 'cause
every time they got ready to work on her , they ' d
send me outdoors . And so I never did know.
But didn ' t nothin ' they ' d do did no good . Some
of the people took their chilrun to the doctor .
Didn ' t do no good . My mother get some Epsom
salts and put in the water when she bathe , but
now, it didn ' t do no good. When she got through ,
my brother , too , they ' d just scratch .• Scratch 8].1
the time. My father told ' em , I'Y' all get some
pine straw . Break off the pine trees , and when
y ' all go to scratchin ', just go to beatin '
yourselves. II Now, that seemed to calm ' em down
from scratchin ' and strikin ' blood . But I
didn ' t know nothin ' . I wanted to learn somethin'
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
9
or ' nother I could give ' em to stop her from
itchin ' so bad I didn ' t know what to do. · Cause
in the night they be hollerin ' and scratchin '
and I ' m snorin '. And when they had the chicken
pox, I didn ' t have it . I waited ' til I got
grown . My oldest daughter was about a year
and two months old when I had the chicken pox .
And when I had the whoopin ' cough , my baby son ,
he borned with the whoopin ' cough . And the
other folk ain ' t had the whoopin ' c0ugh. they
just go on outta there.
You just waited ' til you got grown to have
everything .
I j ust didn ' t have the things when they had it .
I just didn ' t catch it.
Well , did 1you hawe the mumps?
I had the mumps . When did I have the mumps? I
had the mumps after everybody, all of the folks
around here had the mumps and stopped. And one
mornin I when I got up, I said . "Feel like I
catchin ' sQmethin ' up under here . mumps or
somethin ' .11 My mother looked and said . II I got
some sardine in here. 1 111 rub your jaw with it."
And we had churned. like yesterday, and I said .
"Mama . give me some milk. " She said , !IWell .
I ' ll find out if you got the mumps when you
drink this milk ," She went over there and got
me a glass of milk , and I got my mouth up there
and swallowed one time , and I couldn ' t swallow
no more. She said , "Yeah. you got the mumps ."
She just went to workin ' on the mumps , just
kept that little sardine grease to rub me , and
she did get some warm ashes out of the fire ­place
and put them in a rag. Then she got a
stockin ' , them old thick stockings people
used to wear , and she tied it ' round up under
here , put some elder leaves on it , and that made
it feel ~ood . But I was a sight when I had the
mumps. (Measles ?) I wouldn ' t stay outta that
window. We was still in that old house . Eve ry­bcdy
tole me , !l you better keep your eyes outta
tha t window. 11 I had to see what go on . And I
tell you , the later that evenin ! get, the blinder
I ' d get. My face swole up so big , I just had
to pull my eyes open. I couili dn ' t see nothin ' .
And they ! s just itchin ' , and I ' s just rubbin ' ,
rubbin ', rubbin ' • Said, "Goih ' blind , y ' all . tr
My mother say, "Shut Up. l1 I say, "Mama . gimme
a dose of Epsom salts , run all this stuff outta
me." So she went in there and got me a big
dose of Epsom salts. It went to work. I cover
up my head in a sack j ust a little bit , and
then I go down to the clo set . Time I get back ,
I gotta go back . gotta go back . That ne xt
mornin ', why I felt nice. Do you know , all them
bumps done come out on me ? And she made me
some shuck tea . You know, t hese shucks , you
cut l em up and put ' em in there with some
L. Pettway :
KTW:
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L . Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
10
rabbit ' baccer , and let ' em boil . And a little
sugar . You drink that . that ' ll bring ' em on
out . I got slick as an onion , and I was satis ­fiedl
. I said , 11 Mine over wi th o The other folks
had ' em , get away from here . My sister s and
br others already had ' em . But there ' s two kind
of measles . The Red German measles and another
kind . But I had the other kind . I didn ' t have
the Red German . People say gettin ' ' em is
dangerous. I could have ' em . I hope I don ' t .
We ll , did you ever have time to play any, or were
you working all the time?
Well . we had a regular job, but it ' s a certain
time come and kids , they goin ' play . But we had
a mullyberry tree , we used to go out there .
It ' s still out there. We used to go out there ,
climb that tree , get me a bucket of mullyberries,
tie me a line around my waist and take my
bucket on up the tree . And then I tie it on the
bucket and let the bucket down. A person get
it and empty that and then gi ve me the thing , I 'll
come back down there and get it , chunk it back
up there . ' til I get enough . then come on back
down . Then wash those mullyberries , and we all
come ' round the table and sit down and eat
mullyberries ' til we get tired . My daddy always
made plenty watermelons . He didn ' t ha ve to buy
no watermelons . Mush melons , all that kind of
stuff .
Lucy, did you ever play games like II Hiding ll ?
Used to pay "Ring Around Roses l1 • Used to one
go ' round this way and hide from the other ' n .
and if the other can ' t find . then he ' d scare
the other person . We had a chimney on this end ,
and one on the other end. Sometime they think
they ' round that chimney when he be ' round the
other one . Then , we had a back door , you could
go in and hide and wouldn ' t nobody know where
you at . And tha t the way we used to pl .ay .
Dropping handkerchief, and swinging and every­thin
' .
Skin the cat . Used to go up and get us a limb
and skin the cat on a limb . Us be ridin ' t r ees .
That the biggest where we went , ' cause we didn ' t
have no money for any clothes to wear . We go
over there in the pasture, and then a heap of
us get to the pine tree and pull it down and get
it to ridi n ', and then get up on there . That ' s
all t he play we needed .
I did that a hundred times when I was growing up.
You could climb up in the top of those little
pine trees and ride them down .
That ' s right . You can get that tree and go to
r idin ' like that . It was so good . But kids
don't stUdy ' bout that now . All they want to
get in the road and go . And they don ' t want to be
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
11
with their equals . They want to be with grown
people . I tell ' em . I say . "1 love all people ."
I could talk to young peoples . but I get more
out of a person older than them . like my age .
' Cause they know somethin ' and I can get that .
You can learn something. There ' s a whole lot
to be learned in this world .
That ' s true . and I don ' t mind pickin ' up on it.
I just come from down to my uncle ' s a few
minutes ago. His sister nursed me when I was
a baby, Arie did , and Arie sot with the two ba~
children of my grandfather and grandmother, and
t~ey had a cow named Bloom ~ And every time I ' d
go to untie that cow . she ' d do her head like
that , and I ' d start runnin '. I was scared of her.
And they used to have some big old tame hogs .
Long as they don ' t see who got their hands on
' em , you could put your hands on ' em . but if
they look around and see you . you better get outta
that pen if you a small somebody . Better take
that arm out there while you still could . And
I ' m tellin ' you ! We had two mules , Susie and . •• .
They had sense like a person .
I used to ride my daddy and my granddaddy white
mule. When my daddy get him to plow the garden.
he ' d tell me to lead him . I ' d ride . I ' d get me
a sack and throw up on her. and jump up on her
back and ride her. And she'd throw me , and
I ' d hit the si de the trough. and when I come
to , I just eased off . I ' d just get right back
up on her, when I beat that mule . I get right
back up on her and ride her hard as she can go
to my granddaddy ' s house . Get her in there . I
say. "Meanie , don ' t you never throw me no more ."
She was white . But you couldn ' t pay me to get
on that black mule. ' Cause he ' ll fight . Then
I take out and run all the way back home . We
used to have a piece of wire bent . We had a
ring and put it in front of us and rolled it
all the way home , keep up with that ring .. We
didn ' t do that , we ' d roll a tire . Wagon tire ,
one of them big ole iron tires . That what we had
to play with . And knockin ' rings back in
then, we ' d just get us a game out there . and
my daddy used to knock that ring . And me and
my brothers, and that ' s all the fUn I needed .
Now , knocking what? I don ' t know about that .
Rings. You draw a mark , and you on that side
knockin ' rings and I ' m over here . Got a stick .
And you hear them rings whistlin '. I loved
that .
Trying to get it across that line?
That ' s right . And we kept score . The one
knock it across the most . see who could knock
more rings on that side than on this one .
That ' s what we used to play.
KTW :
L . Pettway:
KTW :
L. Pettway:
KTW :
L. Pettway:
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
I never did play that . Did you ever shoot
marbles?
12
Yes , ma ' am . And throw horseshoes ' round that
pole .
And you pitch half dollars to a crack?
I never did that . I ain ' t never had .... all I
had was twenty cents a year . My daddy give me
a dime on the Fourth day (of July) and a dime
at Christmas.
We used to pitch washers . too .
What?
Metal . Round pieces of metal.
Well . us used to get those . You know, when the
peoples have to get them shoes . sugar and things .
then they went to gettin ' tokens , and we played
a lot with tokens . The one who win all them
tokens , the one who throw, you know , come on a
certain side , they come on , the one who throw
the most got all of ' em . I had a paper bag
full of I em and I tole ' ern , I said , "Well , I
ain ' t playin ' no more . 11 I got me a string and
strung ' ern and hung ' ern up . I give ' ern to
these chillun , you know I had chillun , and
every now and then I run across some of them
things . I say, "Well , sir , here one of my
0ld toys ."
My daddy used to get a book of stamps for my
shoes and things , my sister and my brother ' s
things . And I remember when the government
used to • ••• a boat would corne from Selma or
somewhere up there , corne down with this free
cheese and peanuts and different things . They
give ' ern some f ood off that boat . You had to
go down there and get it . If one of these
brothers go , in the family out of my daddy ' s
brothers , if he carry his wagon , he could bring
one of ' em what ain .' t got but a few chill un I S
stuff back , and he ' d tell ' ern down there , he ' d
tell the wife at horne, and he ' d go back and
pick this stuff up , he ' d just keep g0in ' back ,
take one of his chillun down there and pick the
stuff up ' til he get it all . They be gone to
Camden or Selma or somethin '. And if he gone ,
if one of them go , he do the same f0r them .
That ' s just the way it was .
You say you got two dimes a year? Fourth of
July and •• • . ?
Twenty cents . I got one for the Fourth of July
and one for Christmas . And that ' s what Daddy
give me . But we ' d make a broom somewhere and
go sell ' ern . I had me a ' bacca can I ' d keep
my money in . I bought my own socks for the
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KT\i :
L. Pettway :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
winter. Sometime I ' d have enough to buy a
piece of cloth and make me a dress . Me and
13
my brother , we used to get a sack of light ' ood
and sell it for a dime , sometimes fifteen
cents . We could , you know . dig up a stump .
Did you sell it in Camden , or where did you
sell it?
Right around here . To some of these people
around here . I don ' t know how old I was when
I went to Camden first time . I really don ' t
know, but I know I was grown almost .
Well , nobody went anywhere from down here for
a long time. Couldn ' t get out much , could you?
No , ma ' am. ' Cause there warn ' t nothin ' down
here but wagons . People used to .... befor e that
gin house got in here , they used to go to
Camden to gin . But I go with my Mothe r and
them far as the river and pick dewberries with
my brother , Paul . He was younger than me . My
oldest br other and my sister would go on over
there . I ' d come back home where I could take
the mules out and be with the kids . And they ' d
go on to Camden . Sometime I ' d take Paul and
Ruth and we ' d go pick dewberries and leave the
other chillun her e . And when my Mothe r and
them get back , we ' d be to the river wi th
emough dewberries for big pies.
(End Side 1 , Begin Side 2)
.•.... 1 know , I was glad . He lived on the
other side of the river. Deaf Doc lived on
this side. And we used to pay five cents to
go ' cross there , to walk across the r e . Ten cents
for a mule and a wagon . Ten cents for the mule,
ten cents for the wagon .
Well , that was a lot of money .
Yes ' m. And then some times he ' d charge twenty­five
cents for the mule and twenty- five cents
for the wagon . That ' s accordin ' to the load
you got . People used to carry cotton cross
there or gin it at Alberta . Many time my
older brother used to carry two mules . My
granddaddy ' s mules and my daddy ' s mules , to
help ' em pull the load of cotton up the hill .
Pull t hat cotton , that load , that bale of
cotton over there . Lord ha ve mercy ! . And one
year , think it was 1939 , all our corn and cotton ,
peanuts , peas , everything in the swamp got
drownded out . That July it went to r ainin ', all
that got drownded out in the swamp . He didn ' t
have nothin ' . We lived with our grandfather
the rest of that year ' til we got ready to go
to school. My daddy went to Mobile and worked
and got us some clothes and shoes .
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L . Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
14
Whe r e did you go to school?
Out there. It was Pleasant Grove then. In
the church , that where we goin ' t o school , in
the church. Its name was Pleasant Grove , but
this Boykin School got in her e . They built
that school back toward my sister ' s house , and
this other school over here , before you get
to them little schools down there . they built
that one whilst I was there . One of my
teachers was Mr . Pierce . He was the principal .
Threadgill .
Now , that Threadgill , was he the father of the
Threadgill who ' s the preacher?
No . she was a lady. And she ought to be down
there towards Pine Hill . Mrs . Dupree , she
learned me how to do a lot of drawin ' . I used
to do a lot of drawin ' out there. But after I
left school , I put all of that away , ' cause I
never could go to school but a little while .
' Cause you see , I was a plow hand and had to go
to the fields . Break up land , knGlck stalks , get
a stick and knock stalks . Dig up stumps ..
Clear up new ground . All of that .
So you just got to go to school a few weeks
every year , huh?
Few months . Last of November , December, January
and February . In March you gotta go back in
the fields. School was out in April then .
That ' s right. Was rough.
And did you take your lunch to school , Lucy?
Yes , ma ' am . We wasn ' t gettin ' no free lunch
and they wasn ' t cookin ' out there. Cousin Ada ,
you know her, she went to cookin ' when my baby
brother and my baby sister, Ruth , was goin ' to
school . We been allover there goin ' to school.
Now , she start cookin ' out there , but we used
to carry sweet potatoes and b0iled peanuts .
Sometime my mother would give us S0me slices of
meat and some milk we ' d take to school. Ice
some tea cakes , ice some cake . pie or somethin '
like that .
And some days my Mother cooked them tea cakes
and just bring a lot of ' em out there and just
give all the kids . Then that was real good .
But now , when we killed hogs , we carried sweet
potatoes and our cracklins to school . Every
now and then we'd carry some cracklins down to
school. And the older chillun used to take my
' taters and things from me . And one day I got
so mad I said . "I ' m gain ' tell my daddy and my
mama you takin ' such and such a thing away from
me. " 'Cause I figured I couldn ' t beat them , but
if it was in my own size , I ' d a jumped ' em .
And they knew you couldn ' t beat them , too ,
didn ' t they?
L . Pettway:
KTW :
L. Pettway:
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway:
KTW :
L. Pettway :
1 5
That ' s right. That the only reason they did it.
Can you make tea cakes like your Mother made?
I ain ' t never could make tea cakes like my
mother . But my sister sho ' could . My sister .
Ruth . She could really make tea cakes . Some­times
I get my mind on wantin ' some tea cakes ,
I get on the phone and say , r'Hey , I want some
tea cakes . II She tell me , rryou got a hang . II I
say , I' Hey, I nursed YOll , you didn ' t nurse me .
Make my tea cakes .'1 If I demand it , she do it .
Now, where does she live?
She live up there from the school .
up there where that big pecan , and
and things. That ' s her house .
My Grandmother used to make them .
That house
lot of cars
Lemme tell you somebody else could make some
good ' lasses bread , just make me look in the
grave with my mother . Her sister , Martha James .
That ' s Joanna mother . That ' s my mother ' s sister .
I went there one day and she had up a quilt.
I say, "Auntie , you got any home made syrup?11
She say, nUh , huh . It I say , "Gimme your thimble.
You go in the kitchen and cook me some ' lasses
bread . I dreamed last night I eatin ' some of your
' lasses bread and I got to have it . My mouth
went to waterin ', my mind goin ' crazy . Go in
the kitchen and cook me some , please , ma ' am .'1
She jumped right up and went in there and
cooked it . And I couldn ' t hardly wait . I
wouldn ' t let her know how bad as I wanted it.
I couldn ' t hardly wait ' til she got through.
We pick dewberries ' til 12 :00 o ' clock . We used
to can back in then , ' cause we had a lot of land
to hoe . We used to eat our dinner , and get our
water, put us hat on our head and go over there
in the dewberry pasture , the dewberries in the
pasture with the cows, and we ld pick cans and
buckets of dewberries and bring ' em home . Who ­ever
got to cook supper, they g0 on and cook .
Us out there washin ' them dewberries . Some of
them washin I the jars and packin I I em in ' em
and put l em in the pot . and put a fire round
there. Before we go to bed , while some of us
bathe , some of the others out there keepin ' the
fire •. Take that pack off and put some more on .
And you ' d have water in that pot?
Yes , ma ' am.
And they ' d stay all winter long?
Yes , ma'am . They ' d stay all the winter long .
1 111 probably make me some dewberry jam. It l s
rough on me makin l it , ' cause I ' m old now and I
don ' t want to do all I used to do. You got to
L. Pettway:
KTW :
L. Pettway:
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW:
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
16
strain them seed out there , you see , and get it
made . Now that plum butter, the best . Lord ,
that ' s good ! My daddy used to sit up and eat
it by the jarful. It ' s a tree used to be down
there at our dinner time , tree by our shelter,
come up there. Now , we eat plums off it ' til
we lay by in July . You talk ' bout some big
plums and some sweet plums ! Every mornin ' I
go there , just pick me a black bucket full and
a gallon bucket full and just sit there and eat
plums. And bring me some on home and then go
over in John ' s pasture and pick I don ' t know
how many plums . Make jelly and preserves , and
then I make plum butter out of some of ' em.
How you make that plum butter?
\>Jell , you peel that skin •••• You cook that plum ,
them you peel that skin off there , and you just
take the other part , that meat part off that
plum off that skin and you strain it through
a screen wire or somethin ' or ' nother . You take
it and put you some sugar in it , and then put it
in your pan and just let that sugar cook in
there , and take it out there and put it in a
jar .
Well . you have to keep stirring it . don ' t you ?
Looks like it would be easy to scorch.
That ' s right . it will . But . you know . that last
I put up, I had my other deep freezer , I put
up me some . I wouldn ' t put it in no jar. I got
me some pint plastics , and I put it in there , and
I set it in there , and I kept it all through the
time . It don ' t keep too well , I don ' t care
what kind of jar you got. It keep ' til a
certain time and it ruin. And in the plastic,
you can put it in the freezer and it keep all
the time. I get ready for somethiN ' sweet ,
I just go there and get it . and heat it up and
ea tit.
Lucy, you were talking about your Daddy giving
you a dime on the Fourth of July , did y ' all
have a picnic or something down here then?
What did you do on the Fourth?
No ' m. We had •• ••• we didn ' t go to a ball diamond .
but we had ice cream.. My mother used to make
homemade ice cream. Yes , ma ' am.
And she ' d use fresh milk and fresh eggs ?
Fresh
know ,
there
boil .
didn ' t
milk and fresh eggs and that flour .
beat that flour up in there and put
and just stir and stir ' til it come
Pour it over in there . and if you
let it scorch, it ' s real good .
You
it in
to a
You ' re making me hungry now. So you ' d make
ice cream on the Fourt h of July?
1 . Pettway:
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
1. Pettway :
17
Yes , ma ' am . We made ice cream . We ' d kill a
pig , we ' d have hog meat and then have all the
vegetables and things , and we ' d have soda water,
and if we didn ' t have soda water, we ' d have Kool
Aid . We had a big can of lemon water . My
Daddy would cut up so many lemons , then they ' d
pour Kool Aid over in there . I usually get the
food dye and put it in there and change it ,
and that was good . Then we had our own fresh
watermelon . Mush melons. Everythi·ng to eat ,
we had . Had plenty of that . That was good .
' Tater pie and stuff . Used to have plenty of
that , and chicken. We warn ' t sufferin ' for
no t hin ' like that . He was j ust givin ' us a
dime ' cause it was a holiday . I didn ' t worry
about money . Least , I don ' t worry ' bout money
now . I just want somethin ' when I need some­thin
' . I want to have some money to get some ­thin
' wi th now .
See , I raised up hard . I ' m pore and ain ' t
got nothin '. It don ' t bother me none , bu t
when the chilr un want somethin ', and I don ' t
have nothin ' to give ' em , I explain , I say ,
"Well , y ' all blessed than I was . You have to
work for somethin ' if you want it now . You
got to sho t ' nuff work. " But we worked all
through the time , and my Daddy went out there
and my brother had to go and haul wood , had
to saw wood down . A t r ee . Saw it up . We
used to rive boards . Used to saw down a pine
tree , hew it out , rive a board for our chicken
yard , and our yard . Used to have plank all
the way around our house . A fence .
lvould that keep the pigs out ?
Pigs out. Dogs out . Everything. Keep the
chickens from goin ' in. ' Cause you know they
had high board fence. And they get this old
wire what you done used ' round a fence or
somethin ', and put over the top of i t..., And
bend a heap of tha t wire down in there where
the chicken can ' t fly out there.. Keep the
chicken up . That ' s right. I said I think I
gotta fix that. I got it in my mind , but now
I neediJ some help to dig those holes , get the
poles cut and put ' em d0wn . I can ' t do what
I used to do . - But it ' s in my mind .
You know how .
Yes , ma ' am . I can do it . And if I had me
somethin ' to rive me some boards , I could
get me some poles , and I could fix my chicken
yard like I wanted it . You know, people raised
chickens back then , but they don ' t raise no
chickens now . I got plenty over here , the
dogs didn ' t eat ' em all up. But I supposed to
ha ve a hundred and somethin ' chickens. The
dogs done caught a lot of ' em. Pole cats and
minks and things caught a lot of ' em .
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
1. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTvl :
18
' Possums catch them, too, don't they?
Yes , ma ' am . Them my son ' s chickens out there .
He brought ' em from McDonald ' s . Used to work
in McDonalds at Selma . And he b0Ught six
chickens from this man , and that seed ' ern.
They died out , but they still leave the seed
here , and them hens looks just as niee. Raised
and raised nice . Got twelve roosters out there
somewhere. And nine hens. Sometime I see
eleven of them out there. Sometime I think
when I call ' em . they just don ' t come to eat .
I ' m gain' try to get me some more . Two hens
supposed to be done had some chickens. Some­thin
' broke them up . Then hens corne off then
chickens. I had one out there . sDmethin '
caught her leg . She just has a pore time
every year . She was a good chicken_. She
raised from nine to fifteen chickens . Every
time she ' d come off, she ' d have ' em all , but
somethin ' would eat ' em up .
Well , there must be something like a ' possum
0r 'a fox . ..
Or a pole cat or somethin '. And dogs. Dogs
got some of ' em . Had a hen come off with
thirteen chickens and the dog kilt the hen and
all thirteen chickens . I was out there throwin '
some water out the back door , and I saw that
dog when he caught the hen. I C0me back in
here and tried to get my shoes on and get my
gun. Hhen I went back out, lain ' t seed the
dog. I looked for my chickens , and looked
for my chickens. My little chickens . Every
time I look , I just see blood . And I come on
back in here , and way after while the dog come
back up, and I stand in my door and shot him
half in two. And I say every dog I see near
my chickens from now on , I ' m g0in ' kill him.
Now , them chickens what he et up , I coulda had
some chickens ..
Yeah, you sure coula .• Well , LMcy , what did
y ' all do Christmas?
Christmas? We ' d go to our Auntie ' s house .
Uncle Little used to have a little stand , you
know . Used to sell ginger snaps , soda water.
You know, soda water wasn ' t but five cents then.
And a five cent box of ginger snaps , you ' d get
a big box for ten cents. A box 0f ginger snaps.
Well , we ' d just get us a soda water and .ginger
snaps and bring home , when we come home . We ' d
never eat it out there. 80 we be already full
and we ' d playa little game like "Dr0ppin ' The
Handkerchief ", and "Ring Around The Roses ",
and somethin ' like that . We ' d play that on
Christmas.
Well , did you hang up stockings Christmas?
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway:
KTW :
L. Pettway :
19
Yes , ma ' am . We used to hang up sto ckings .
We get some candy and toys in ' em . Oranges and
apples . raisins and candy and different things ·.
One year I got me a sweater and a pair of
shoes . And I was happy . My brother , Richard ,
was next to me , and he got some , too . But he
died that next year after Christmas . He di ed.
He was a little boy . And he had so much sense.
He was left hand . Me and him used to play
passing licks , all the time. And I was the
oldest, but he beat me , ' cause he had a left
hand and I had a right 0ne. I tell hi m' "I
let you beat me ' cause you got a left hand ."
But he ' d give me a good beatin '. S0metime
he ' d beat me so bad , I ' d bite him and that when
he get to hollerin l . I just bite him . He ld
c r y then .
What was the matter with him . Lucy? Do you
know?
No lm, I never did know what was his trouble .
He just died . Nursin ', it ' s a burden. I ' m
tellin ' you . I really know , ' cause I waited
on my daddy . He got in bad shape . He had a
stroke , and he got so he couldn ' t help hiss elf .
That l s a burden when you got a sick person.
You got to wait on him , then jump out that room
and do what you got to do , then come back in
there . You got to run cook him somethin ' to
eat . You got to run and mop . You got to clean
up somewhere for him to be. Then you got to
wait ' til he call you again , then you got to
jump and run. You r unnin ' all the time~ . You
just don ' t never get rest . It ' s rough .
Now, he made that pretty little trim around
your hous e , didn ' t he?
Yes , ma ' am . Then he built ...• he cut 0ut a
table and made some ••. just like them little
things what up side that stove .• That ' s
when he started to put part of them en . It
was real . nice . He put it up there in Pleasant
Grove church when us was studyin ' 0 ver there .
We been in Pleasant Grove church since they
been up there . I don l t know where it is now,
but i t l s a nice table .
Well , I ' d like to see it .. I ' ll have to look
fer it ..
I don ' t know where it is , but it really was a
nice table. Made a present of the Ghur¢h of it.
All you got to have a keyhole saw... I could
make somethin l like that if I had a keyhole
saw and the lumber to saw it out with, and had
the wind and the str ength . I used to ...• l
have a table I made and put some trimmin ' all
the way ' round it , but it rotted and I throwed
it out . It wasn ' t solid like that .
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L . Pettway:
You can do anything you want to , can ' t you ,
Lucy?
20
Anything my daddy done . I did . t00 . Any thing
I put my mind to , I could do it . But , you know
what hindered me , I don ' t have the material
to go with it . like I supposed to. One day I
hope I can get it . I Cause I wan t to put me
a chicken coop and a runaway . I want to try
to make me one of them . Long as I had that ,
I could put up my youngest chickens in it and
keep ' em up . And let them other chicken go
' bout they business . They can get outta the
way. but the little chicken can ' t get outta
the way of no dog or no thin I. Bu t every thin I so
high , lady. I just can ' t get what I need . I
can ' t get what I need. I c0uld tell you now ,
I paid for one packet of candy and one package
of cigarettes . and it cost me three dollars
and somethin '. I said . "You didn ' t need to
get no silver bell candy . man . but you got it . "
I said . "Them cigarettes is killin ' you . you
don i t need them" . "Yeah . but r want I em . "
I say. 1I\I/ell . you keep smokin ' and death ' s goin'
sho ring that bell." "Now , don ' t say that . "
"Well . you killin ' yourself . I dt!lne tGld you ."
Every thin ' is so high . I 'don ' t know how we
gain ' make it.
Well . we ' re going to learn to do with0ut a
whole lot of things . just like you ' re talking
a bout~
r told Mary •.• r mean I told Margaret this
mornin ' . I say. "When I get my land out there
broke up, I goin ' get all my stuff in the
ground planted down , I feel like somethin '
dropped off my shoulders then . And I could
just set there and watch it grGw. Every now
and then go out there and do somethin l to it ..
Let it grow. II
Speak to it a little bit and tell it it ' s doing
good,.
Oh. yeah. just walk out across it real good.
Now . I got to try to get back and get me,
some cows . You know , water used to dry up
out here in July. last of June or July we had
to go way down to .• • had to pump all the cows
water . Thirty- six head of cows . thirty- six
head of hogs . We had to water when we ' d get
outta the field. It was rough, lady. I tell
you , totin ' that water . Three and f<!>ur tubs
of water . It ' s not easy.,
Well , where was the pump you got it from?
There the pump right there . And sometimes we
had the cows trained . They knowed the way to
water, and we ' d tie three or four of them
cows together. and they ' d just take out runnin '
L. Pettway:
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
21
and run on down there . And when I ' d get there
with the others , one what ain ' t goin ' act
right , they done drunk and turned ' round and
come out there and go to eatin '. But when them
others drink , I could holler at them others ,
and they ' d come on back. I bring those on .
Then somebody else gain ' get a gang of ' em .
Sometime I carried five , sometime I carried
three. Somethin' like that . Somebody else got
five and bring ' em on like that.
Did you have a trough down there to put that
water in? What did they drink out of?
We had a big fif t y gallon barrel. My daddy
cut it in two , and we had two wooden tubs
down there . And we ' d take the tin tubs and
tote the water and fill up them two and let
them drink and go back and come up again . Just
keep fullin ' I em up . And this boy, if he ' s
around . he ' ll keep ' em full for the noon of
the day while we in the field . He and the other
chillun .
But in the evenin ' time , we just full ' em back
up . Sometime we leave two of them tin tubs
down there. Well , the next mornin ' , we won ' t
have to tote none I til that evenin ' . Take
them other cows and take them on . Have our
milk cows in the field . Tie them out. And
we walk then at 12:00 o ' clock down to one
of the ponds and water r em, and when we come
home that evenin ' , we water them again . Run
the cows and us run on out the field.
You talked wi th
here , about the
broken up down
me one time when I was
time when your parents
here.
Oh , yeah , they took every thin ' .
down
got
Mr. Rentz was dead. It was his widow. wasn ' t
it?
I reckon it was his widow. I don ' t know
whether he was dead or not. But he was ... they
was sayin ' Mr. Rentz. He sont somebody over
here with a truck , they got our wagon ; all
our plows ; our mules . everything . Hoes .
Was that when you were living in the house
in front of this one?
That ' s right . All the corn we had made .
Everything . Everything . The peas , peanuts .
Every thin ' they could get, they got.
How much did your Daddy owe him ?
I don ' t know. I don ' t really know. I don ' t
know what he owed. But it didn ' t had to be
much for Mr. Rentz to get what he got . He
L. Pettway:
KTW :
L. Pettway:
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
22
didn ' t have to take all what he got , ' cause he
didn I t need that. I Cause a whole lot of •••• .
One of us wagons didn ' t have but three wheels
on it . We was diggin ' our sweet potatoes
that year . The wagon wheel , it already was
breakin ' . My daddy kept nailin ' it on . That
wheel just come off . all the way off . So
that the only wheel he left there . My Daddy
got some stuff and fixed that wheel up . And
he got an old piece of wagon from somebody up
there at Al berta . I t had four wheel s on it .
and then he had to make his own tongue and
his own couplin ' pole in there , and we had
another good wagon . When he got able . he
bought him two mules . Went on back to farmin' .
Well , the next year , the ·peoples wo r ked in the
squad , but my Daddy never did work in the squad.
He never did . And K. C. used to Ii ve over the
creek • • . he live in . . . where he live? .. he live
somewhere , but anyway, George Pettway, the man
got a house , he went to see him .. . Georgianna .
that where he live . Now he used to plow in
that squad . My Aunt Minerva and Margaret over
there , they used to hoe in that squad . My
Daddy never di d get in there . My Aunt Martha
Jane , they worked in it , but my Daddy said ,
"No , I got one mule and my daddy got a mule " -
he was livin ' on the Spur lin place over there -
Now , Papa ' d get his daddy ' s mule and go to
the fields . And he ' d plow his daddy ' s mule or
either he ' d plow his mule and they ' d farm . My
brother what was next to me . he ' ll plow
that , and we ' d hoe . That ' s the way we did .
We didn ' t work in the squad . I glad of it .
White man ridin ' right up and down the field ,
cussin ' ' em and tellin ' em what to do . I
didn ' t like that. ' Cause I gotta work anyhow .
That ' s the way it was .
Lucy, did they come on the ferry from Camden
over here to get those things when they came
and broke y ' all up?
They come from down this road , so they had
to come across the ferry .
Came down this road?
Yes , ma ' am . You know, they had a flat down
there and some skiffs , too . And see . the flat
was gain ' bring trucks and cars on this side
and carry ' em back . That ' s the way it was .
Sho ' did . And every day I see that wagon ,
I say, "Lord, have mercy. Ain ' t nobody gain '
have nothin '." But they didn ' t take all of
our sweet potatoes. ' Cause the man didn ' t
never come back. But they got some of ' em .
But they never did take ' em all .
Well , how did y ' all live that winter? ~lasn ' t
KTW :
L . Pett way :
KTW :
L. Pettway:
KTW :
L. Pettway:
23
that like in the fall when he did that?
After the people had gather ed every thin' • We
had gathered every thin ' and they wait ' ti l
they did. The r taters and ev ery t h in ' • Eve'ry­thin
' was gathered. They got it . Got every­thin
'. Got some of the peoples ' syrup . Got
some of they syrup , some of they hogs and
things . I t was rough . It was r ough . Bu t we
made it .
I don ' t see how you made it .
Well , my mother had some chickens , and we had
some hogs in t he field . Anyway, my daddy
went down the r e and built him a pen . Went in
the field and got two of them hogs we had
turned ou t . Put them hogs up and comin ' up
to Christmas , we killed two hogs . We made it .
They were kinda down in the swamp , so they
di dn ' t get t hem ?
No ' rn. Two of ' em had got out befo r e . Before
we finished diggin t t ta ter s and things. When
we finished diggin ' , peoples just tu r ned t hey
hogs out . They just rooted and start to walkin'
and go on in the swamp . That ' s the way it
was .
It broke up a lot of people . I ' m tellin ' you .
I went to axin ques t ion , I say, "Wha t Mr . Rentz
goin ' do wi th them things ?11 Wha t would he
do ? Take ' em and sell ' em t o somebody else .
He didn ' t need ' ern . He had a warehouse he j ust
put all that junk in .
(End Side 2, Tape 1)

Click tabs to swap between content that is broken into logical sections.

This material may be protected under Title 17 of the U. S. Copyright Law which governs the making of photocopies or reproductions of copyrighted materials. You may use the digitized material for private study, scholarship, or research.

Holding.Institution

Birmingham Public Library (Alabama)

Full Text

1
Interview with Lucy Pettway
Date of Interview : April 24 , 1980 ; Gee's Bend , Alabama
Interviewer : Kathryn Tucker Windham
Transcriber : Edna O. Meek
Begin Side 1. Tape 1
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTVT :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway : ·
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW:
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
Did you get your garden planted by Good Friday?
No, ma ' am . I got a little bit , but it wasn ' t
much .
It was too wet . wasn ' t it?
Yes , ma ' am .
Now , did your father build this house?
Yes , ma ' am . He was the foreman . He had help .
Somebody else helped .
Was this one of those project houses?
Yes , ma ' am . It was a project house. But you
see , he already made the poles for his other
house and he just put them on this one . See,
the government furnished all the lumber you
wanted . Had a sawmill up there and they hauled
the logs up there and that ' s where the lumber
come on down here . He was t he foreman of this
house. He had a crew of men , just like I say
you the boss over ' em ; you got a crew of women ,
the next lady , your sister or your sister- in - law
got a crew , like that , that ' s the way it was .
Little Pettway had a crew and Nelson Pettway had
a crew , and my daddy had a crew.
And your daddy was named ••••• ?
Tom O. Pettway. My mother was named Mary Anne
Pettway.
And how old were you when this house was built?
About nineteen .
next birthday I
I believe
would have
I was nineteen .
been twenty .
My
Were you married then , or were you still living
a thorne?
I was still living at home . I ain ' t never been
married.
Still a home child?
Yes , ma ' am. Hard workin ' . Oh, it ' s ups and
downs , but God willin ', I ' ll make it.
Well , what was the house like that you lived in
before you moved in this house?
It was a double house , with a chimney on :,this
end and one on the other. And the chimney on
this end was our room . We had three back rooms ,
we had a smokehouse and a dining room. That what
you call the meal room . I call it the dinin '
room. ' cause we eat back there sometime. And
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTlI :
1. Pettway :
2
another bedroom in back there . We slept in
the room where the chimney on this end , and my
father and mother and the little chilrun slept
in the other room . Until we got over here.
How many children werem your family?
Then ? Or then all of ' em? Lemme see . It was
seven of us .
Seven children and your mother and father.
' Scusin ' one that was dead .
And did you cook in the fireplace . or where?
Yes , ma ' am . On the fireplace . First stove we
had was in here . The government furnished the
stoves and the pump . It was the first stove
we had . The pump was in the back yard . And we
had a fireplace , a place to cook . That was my
mother ' s and f ather ' s room. This was our room .
That was the boys ' room back there . That ' s the
kitchen . And we had a screen porch on the back .
And a nice yard , a nice garden . Think it was
half an acre or a whole acre one , f0r a garden .
House used to sit right out in fromt . Cotton used
to be back here .
And your old house was in front of this house?
Yes , ma ' am . And my daddy used to
smith. He could sharpen sweeps .
could do whatever had to be done .
sharpen hoes , anything . He ' d put
fire and take ' em out and sharpen
Could he sha rpen saws . too?
be a black­I
mean he
He could farm,
' em in the
' em .
Anything. My brother . Paul , he could sharpen
saws . My brother . Joe , and my brother . Tom .
All the family could sharpen~ They ' d sharpen
saws .
That ' s hard to do . they tell me ..
My brother , Paul . he can beat out hoes
and sweeps and they would sharpen ' em .
do all of that .
and points
They ' d
And he learned that from his daddy . didn ' t he?
Yes , ma ' am . He really did. I used to go down
there . You know , IiI chillun used to get them
tongs and hold them things , beat out a nail ,
flatten out a nail . That what we used to do ,
me and my brother. Then we had to tie out cows ,
carry the cows and tie . and go at 12: 00 o ' clock
and get ' em and carry ' em to the pond and let ' em
drink . Then bring ' em back and tie ' em in a
fresh place . Go back in the e venin ' and bring ' em
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pett way:
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
3
home at night . Ge t up the next marnin ' and
milk . feed t he hogs . You know, it was rough , but
it was better then than it is now, ' cause we
had plenty peas to pick all of July . Dr ied
peas . And green peas and t hings . Put them up .
Sometime my mother would make us beat out peas
in the winter time on Saturday, a nd shell some
corn to feed , you know , cook ' em and put ' em
in a pot and put it in a can or somethin ' or
' nother and feed the hogs the next week . Talk
about fine hogs ! We had plenty of them .
You mean like in a wash pot out in the yard ? Cook
that hard corn in it ' til it was softened up
for the pigs ?
Yes , ma ' am . Sho ' did , with some oak ashes or
hickory ashes or some thin ' like that . a nd give
it to the hogs t he next week . We had plenty of
feed . And peanuts and things . We used to make
them . And the gove r nment had a firehouse up
there from where the postoffice is. It was a
red sto r e . I reckon you remember the old store.
And gin house and mill house and little toilets .
And then they had a f iretru ek . Had a big truck
to go pick up things to bring in here . and then
they had a pender pi cke r up there . My father
and me . we got all the penders out the f i eld and
brought ' em up ther e and full up the barn loft
with ' em , and that pender picker come around
there and we picked off so many bushels of
penders . We had ' em in a stack. One stack down
ther e and one up he r e . We j ust . you know . got
' em off. And we picked ' em off every chance
we ' d get . In the evenin ' and on Sa turday.
we ' d pick ' em off . I ' m gain ' to try to have
some like that this year. if I li~e and nothin '
happen . .
We r e they those Ii t t le bi tty peanuts or were they
tho s e great long ones ?
Some of ' em had f our in ' em . and some of ' em had
two in ' em. Sometime you see one in t here. And
then we have some scratch penders . Alabama
Runners . that ' s the name of ' em . but you can ' t
f ind them now .
I hadn ~ t heard of them in a while.
Them scratch penders . Oh. boy. The government
give ' em , gettin ' the people to seed those pea­nuts
. and my mother saved ' em , but they s t opped
plantin ' them one year and I ain ' t never had no
more sin ce . I would like to ha ve some now.
' Cause they the best .
Did you ever plant any chufas ?
I don ' t know what that is.
They ' re kinda like
in as big a vine .
o f grass , almost.
peanuts . but they don ' t grow
They grow in like a clump
Pull it up. and i t has the
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
sweetest little nuts on the bottom of them .
And deer love them . I know hunters sometime
plant chufas . And wild turkeys like them .
4
Well . maybe that ' s what that wild turkey be doin '
out there in that pasture . After you pass that
last house where that green grass , they stroll .
Look like cows be over there , but they turkeys .
Well , maybe they ' re looking for them .
Lot of ' em be over there soon in the marnin ' and
late in the evenin '. They be out there .
How did your mother manage to cook on the open
fire? Did she cook in pots , or what did she use
for cooking?
She had a skillet . Get you a shovel and put your
coal down . then put the grease in your skillet ,
set that skillet over them coals , then put the
lid on that fire , let it get hot and knock it up
side there , and after you put the bread on , put
the lid on top of it , get some fire and put on top
of it , and let it br own . Every now and then
you ' d look in there .
And you had to be careful when you looked , didn ' t
you?
Yes , ma ' am . Keep from droppin ' some ashes in
the r e . But it was some good bread. Make ash
cake . put that fire back , make up that bread
and pat in in there , put it in there and cover
it up. cover it up and get out there and wash
them ashes off . and you talk about some good
eatin ' bread !
And would it have the print of your fingers on
it where you . .. ...• ?
That ' s right. Sho ' did. And put peanuts in a
skillet in some coals , too . It ' s real good like
that . And fry up the meat . But that fire be so
hot to my head . when I get through fryin' meat .
My Mother started me cookin ' when I was seven
years old.
Were you the oldest girl?
No ' m. I the next to oldest girl . It ' s a boy
between me and my oldest sister . And a boy
older t han her . It was seven boys and se ven
girls . Fourteen in all . And I used to plow when
I was cornin ' up . I used to cover up • . . When I
wasn ' t old enough to plant corn , I was coverin '
up corn. My daddy drapped it and my br other put
out fertilizer , and I covered up.
You ' d be the last one in the line?
That ' s right. that ' s right . And so my daddy .
then he ' d put out the fertilizer. Sometime he ' d
let my brother put ou t the fertilizer , and he ' d
plant the cotton with the mule and plow . And
he ' d put me in the front , about six or seven
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
I.
KTW :
L. Pettway:
KTW :
L. Pettway :
rows . r akin '. I gotta rake all the r ows .
the corn . I had to cover up all the corn .
peas and peanuts and things. I ' m tellin '
Bust the middles out the cotton .
And your daddy had his own mule ?
5
But
And
you !
His own mule .
or two years.
One year we had cows to plow .
I forget what year that was .
One
They we r e government cows ?
Yes . ma ' am . The gover nmen t give them to us .
Lightnin ' hi t one of ' em right down there and
kilt him . And we used to be way down in t hat
s wamp. If it go to thunder and lightnin ', us
take the cows and be on us way home . Sometime
we have to tie ' em up side the road , and then
we had to run and walk ' til us get home . Some
of them cows you could r ide , and some of ' em
they wouldn ' t let you r i de . They just won ' t act
ri ght . They go up under them t r ees and knock
you off . And when it get about 10 : 00 O' clock ,
where ver water is , t hey gain ' f ind that water and
go stand up in there and cool them hoofs . They
run away . Tear your plow up .
Now , these were ox en , weren ' t they ?
Yes , ma ' am . They ' s oxen . And my daddy made a
ox yoke and made one them little things with the
two wheelan it , the ox wagon , t hat what it for ,
corn and cotton and t hings , but we rode in the
field and out with it .
Whatever happened to that ox wagon ?
It got torn up . It just wen t down to
And then my daddy go t another wagon .
ho rs e wagon .
no thin ' .
Mules and
Were they solid wheels on that ox wagon , or did
they have spokes ?
Just like a wagon . See , the back part of the
wagon wheel was tore up , and my daddy took the
f r ont part and made t he ox wagon . I used to
lo ve to ride in it , too . We ' d haul all our
wood , you know . Like on the week- end , we ' d
go back and get some wood , ' cause that ' s what we
used to cook on in the stove in the kitchen . We
had a fi r e in there , in the cook stove , until I
got that . (Present stove.)
Well , i t took your mother a while to learn how
to cook on a cook stove , didn ' t it?
Her mother had one . She knowed how to cook on
it , ' cause her mo t her had one . But afte r she
mar ried , she had to get back used to the fire .
That where she learned how to cook , on the
fire . But her mother had a s t ove and she
cooked on it. She ' d go up there and cook for
her mother .
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
6
Well , it ' s a lot more convenient , I know .
Yes , ma ' am . I can set in here , get up and go
put on my food . And I don ' t even have to look
at my bread , if I set my stove to the right
number . I can smell it brownin ' and go in
there and take it out and cut the stove off
n ow . That ' s a lot convenient . but I ' m payin '
out money .
That ' s right . And the other was free , wasn ' t it?
That ' s right . The only thing you had to do was
go get you some wood .
It was mighty good , too , wasn ' t it?
Yes , ma ' am. And then milkin ' them cows and
churnin ' your own milk , and you know , gettin '
your own butter . Cookin ' it . strainin ' it
and puttin ' it in them jars . You had your own
butter. You didn ' t have to go to no store to
buy no butter.
Amd wasn ' t it good ?
Yes , ma ' am . You had your own hogs . And you ' d
fatten them hogs , kill your own hogs ; you made
your own lard. Back then you had your own
cracklins . You had your own white potatoes .
Everything you needed , you had it . It ' s right
there. You could get it.
That ' s right. Sugar cane , made syrup out of it .
That ' s right. Well , you know ,
give us some cane back there.
they called that cane.
the government
Lemme see what
Ribbon cane or sorghum ?
It was ribbon cane , but it warn ' t no
cane. It was called another thing.
Clarence got some over there now.
real ribbon
Buddy
It was called something like POJ , or something
like that.
I don ' t know what they called it , but it wasn ' t
no really ribbon cane . But it was somethin '
else. I can ' t call the name of it . I done
forgot , but anyway, we had some of that , too .
We used to have it down side there and it really
made . And then you could cut it down and bale
it out , or either make your rows up and drop
it where you wanted it to go . Wrap up the roots
with your lister , you know . put a list on each
side of the row. It ' ll come back , come back out
that next year. That ' s right . Had a lot of cane.
We made syrup off it one year. And then the hogs
went to rootin ' it up and nobody keepin ' up
L . Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L . Pettway:
7
their hogs and they ITust rooted it on out the
ground. I been talkin ' about g e ttin ' some more ,
but I haven't got it back y e t .
When you churned , did you ever sing , or have a
little song when you churned?
Yes, ma ' am.
I used to have one that said , IICome butter, come. 11
11 Come butter,
at the gate .
come .
Come ,
You did that , too?
Little white girl standin '
butter , come ."
My Auntie Irene used to sing that , when we was
little chilrun. We was raised in our grandmama's
yard. My daddy didn ' t leave us at home. He
always take us over to his mother ' s house.
That where we grew up. Vinie , and me and
Clinton and Ernest , and all, we grew up over there .
While your mother was in the field with your
daddy?
Yes, ma ' am. They ' d come get us in the evenin ',
come back home. But we stayed in my grandmama ' s
yard. And we had a long old wooden tray, you
know. People used to have them trays . And
is a hole was in it . she ' d take a hot crust.
She cooked that bread outdoors in an open fire .
and she ' d take that hot crust and stick it in
that hole , mash that milk and bread up and put
it in that tray. and give us one spoon . The
oldest one got to eat with the spoon , and it
goin ' all the way around the tray. Just a gang
of us settin' ' round there, eatin!. You can ' t
do that now . Not with these set of chillun
comin ' on.
You'd take turns.
That ' s right. This one get a mouthful and eat ,
the next one get the spoon . He 'd get through
with it, he'd give it to the next one. But the
peoples didn ' t have no spoons then. They just
really didn ' t have none. And greens and corn ,
we used to eat with our hands . But I had a
risin ' on my finger , and I didn ' t eat no collard
greens with my hand. I ain ' t never learned how
to eat with this hand here ' til then . And when
that hand here was sick , all the skin come all
the way away from ' round there . and I just catch
the end of it there and pull it up , and my Lord !
I could just see myself now , layin ' in there with
that arm a - tremble . And I couldn ' t stand for
nothin ' to fan by. it hurt so bad. And I ' ve done
without eatin ' with that hand there . I mean ,
I had to learn back how, about six months after
it got well. It had tender skin on it. Ever y­thin
' hurt it so. So my mother made a rag to
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
8
put over my hand and put a ruffle right here
and put a draw string in it and tied it up here.
I couldn ' t use that. Everything I go to do , I
washed with this hand , I sweep the yard with
this hand . I wouldn ' t bother this one . I say ,
" I just can ' t use this hand . I don ' t believe
I ' ll never use that hand no more . 1I Every now and
then a pain hit me and go up in that hand . Hurt
a long time .
It ' s a wonder you hadn ' t lost that finger , isn ' t
it?
I didn ' t lost it , but my sister had a bonefelon
in one of her fingers. I just remember now . It' s
just like , you ever see a sandspur? It ' s just
like a sandspur. Dr. Dickson opened that finger
and got it out from there . And it just like ••••
my daddy used to tell us about it . He always
kept it in a little glass in his trunk , and I look
at it , I say, IIWhere it was? l1 And he ' d tell me ,
llRight there , right there in her finger . It And
I ' d say, IIHow ' d it get there ?1I And I feel my
fingers every mornin ' when I get up to see is I
gct. one of ' em . I didn ' t want that , you know . I
just feel my f ingers . I had two cows to milk
and she have two to milk . And sometime she ' d have
two to milk and I ' d have one to milk. And I
had to milk all her cows , see to her calf, put
calf over yonder . And then go tie out her cows
and mine , too . And , see , I had two burdens. I
had my burden and hers , too . And I said , II Lord ,
ha ve mercy!" And then the po ' cri t ter couldn ' t
pick no cotton . Lord , I need to had them hands
where I didn ' t had to pick no cotton . I never
was a person to ca tch the same di seas e my sis ters
and brothers had , ' cause that was my sister ,
and she had the seven year itch . The itch was
gain ' ' round , and they ' d just scratch ' til they
get bloody . I never did have it . I slept with
her every night .
Well , what did they put on that? Lard? SUlphur?
I don ' t know nothin ' my mother put on it. My
grandmother brought somethin ' there to put on
it , but I never did find out what it was , 'cause
every time they got ready to work on her , they ' d
send me outdoors . And so I never did know.
But didn ' t nothin ' they ' d do did no good . Some
of the people took their chilrun to the doctor .
Didn ' t do no good . My mother get some Epsom
salts and put in the water when she bathe , but
now, it didn ' t do no good. When she got through ,
my brother , too , they ' d just scratch .• Scratch 8].1
the time. My father told ' em , I'Y' all get some
pine straw . Break off the pine trees , and when
y ' all go to scratchin ', just go to beatin '
yourselves. II Now, that seemed to calm ' em down
from scratchin ' and strikin ' blood . But I
didn ' t know nothin ' . I wanted to learn somethin'
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
9
or ' nother I could give ' em to stop her from
itchin ' so bad I didn ' t know what to do. · Cause
in the night they be hollerin ' and scratchin '
and I ' m snorin '. And when they had the chicken
pox, I didn ' t have it . I waited ' til I got
grown . My oldest daughter was about a year
and two months old when I had the chicken pox .
And when I had the whoopin ' cough , my baby son ,
he borned with the whoopin ' cough . And the
other folk ain ' t had the whoopin ' c0ugh. they
just go on outta there.
You just waited ' til you got grown to have
everything .
I j ust didn ' t have the things when they had it .
I just didn ' t catch it.
Well , did 1you hawe the mumps?
I had the mumps . When did I have the mumps? I
had the mumps after everybody, all of the folks
around here had the mumps and stopped. And one
mornin I when I got up, I said . "Feel like I
catchin ' sQmethin ' up under here . mumps or
somethin ' .11 My mother looked and said . II I got
some sardine in here. 1 111 rub your jaw with it."
And we had churned. like yesterday, and I said .
"Mama . give me some milk. " She said , !IWell .
I ' ll find out if you got the mumps when you
drink this milk ," She went over there and got
me a glass of milk , and I got my mouth up there
and swallowed one time , and I couldn ' t swallow
no more. She said , "Yeah. you got the mumps ."
She just went to workin ' on the mumps , just
kept that little sardine grease to rub me , and
she did get some warm ashes out of the fire ­place
and put them in a rag. Then she got a
stockin ' , them old thick stockings people
used to wear , and she tied it ' round up under
here , put some elder leaves on it , and that made
it feel ~ood . But I was a sight when I had the
mumps. (Measles ?) I wouldn ' t stay outta that
window. We was still in that old house . Eve ry­bcdy
tole me , !l you better keep your eyes outta
tha t window. 11 I had to see what go on . And I
tell you , the later that evenin ! get, the blinder
I ' d get. My face swole up so big , I just had
to pull my eyes open. I couili dn ' t see nothin ' .
And they ! s just itchin ' , and I ' s just rubbin ' ,
rubbin ', rubbin ' • Said, "Goih ' blind , y ' all . tr
My mother say, "Shut Up. l1 I say, "Mama . gimme
a dose of Epsom salts , run all this stuff outta
me." So she went in there and got me a big
dose of Epsom salts. It went to work. I cover
up my head in a sack j ust a little bit , and
then I go down to the clo set . Time I get back ,
I gotta go back . gotta go back . That ne xt
mornin ', why I felt nice. Do you know , all them
bumps done come out on me ? And she made me
some shuck tea . You know, t hese shucks , you
cut l em up and put ' em in there with some
L. Pettway :
KTW:
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L . Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
10
rabbit ' baccer , and let ' em boil . And a little
sugar . You drink that . that ' ll bring ' em on
out . I got slick as an onion , and I was satis ­fiedl
. I said , 11 Mine over wi th o The other folks
had ' em , get away from here . My sister s and
br others already had ' em . But there ' s two kind
of measles . The Red German measles and another
kind . But I had the other kind . I didn ' t have
the Red German . People say gettin ' ' em is
dangerous. I could have ' em . I hope I don ' t .
We ll , did you ever have time to play any, or were
you working all the time?
Well . we had a regular job, but it ' s a certain
time come and kids , they goin ' play . But we had
a mullyberry tree , we used to go out there .
It ' s still out there. We used to go out there ,
climb that tree , get me a bucket of mullyberries,
tie me a line around my waist and take my
bucket on up the tree . And then I tie it on the
bucket and let the bucket down. A person get
it and empty that and then gi ve me the thing , I 'll
come back down there and get it , chunk it back
up there . ' til I get enough . then come on back
down . Then wash those mullyberries , and we all
come ' round the table and sit down and eat
mullyberries ' til we get tired . My daddy always
made plenty watermelons . He didn ' t ha ve to buy
no watermelons . Mush melons , all that kind of
stuff .
Lucy, did you ever play games like II Hiding ll ?
Used to pay "Ring Around Roses l1 • Used to one
go ' round this way and hide from the other ' n .
and if the other can ' t find . then he ' d scare
the other person . We had a chimney on this end ,
and one on the other end. Sometime they think
they ' round that chimney when he be ' round the
other one . Then , we had a back door , you could
go in and hide and wouldn ' t nobody know where
you at . And tha t the way we used to pl .ay .
Dropping handkerchief, and swinging and every­thin
' .
Skin the cat . Used to go up and get us a limb
and skin the cat on a limb . Us be ridin ' t r ees .
That the biggest where we went , ' cause we didn ' t
have no money for any clothes to wear . We go
over there in the pasture, and then a heap of
us get to the pine tree and pull it down and get
it to ridi n ', and then get up on there . That ' s
all t he play we needed .
I did that a hundred times when I was growing up.
You could climb up in the top of those little
pine trees and ride them down .
That ' s right . You can get that tree and go to
r idin ' like that . It was so good . But kids
don't stUdy ' bout that now . All they want to
get in the road and go . And they don ' t want to be
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
11
with their equals . They want to be with grown
people . I tell ' em . I say . "1 love all people ."
I could talk to young peoples . but I get more
out of a person older than them . like my age .
' Cause they know somethin ' and I can get that .
You can learn something. There ' s a whole lot
to be learned in this world .
That ' s true . and I don ' t mind pickin ' up on it.
I just come from down to my uncle ' s a few
minutes ago. His sister nursed me when I was
a baby, Arie did , and Arie sot with the two ba~
children of my grandfather and grandmother, and
t~ey had a cow named Bloom ~ And every time I ' d
go to untie that cow . she ' d do her head like
that , and I ' d start runnin '. I was scared of her.
And they used to have some big old tame hogs .
Long as they don ' t see who got their hands on
' em , you could put your hands on ' em . but if
they look around and see you . you better get outta
that pen if you a small somebody . Better take
that arm out there while you still could . And
I ' m tellin ' you ! We had two mules , Susie and . •• .
They had sense like a person .
I used to ride my daddy and my granddaddy white
mule. When my daddy get him to plow the garden.
he ' d tell me to lead him . I ' d ride . I ' d get me
a sack and throw up on her. and jump up on her
back and ride her. And she'd throw me , and
I ' d hit the si de the trough. and when I come
to , I just eased off . I ' d just get right back
up on her, when I beat that mule . I get right
back up on her and ride her hard as she can go
to my granddaddy ' s house . Get her in there . I
say. "Meanie , don ' t you never throw me no more ."
She was white . But you couldn ' t pay me to get
on that black mule. ' Cause he ' ll fight . Then
I take out and run all the way back home . We
used to have a piece of wire bent . We had a
ring and put it in front of us and rolled it
all the way home , keep up with that ring .. We
didn ' t do that , we ' d roll a tire . Wagon tire ,
one of them big ole iron tires . That what we had
to play with . And knockin ' rings back in
then, we ' d just get us a game out there . and
my daddy used to knock that ring . And me and
my brothers, and that ' s all the fUn I needed .
Now , knocking what? I don ' t know about that .
Rings. You draw a mark , and you on that side
knockin ' rings and I ' m over here . Got a stick .
And you hear them rings whistlin '. I loved
that .
Trying to get it across that line?
That ' s right . And we kept score . The one
knock it across the most . see who could knock
more rings on that side than on this one .
That ' s what we used to play.
KTW :
L . Pettway:
KTW :
L. Pettway:
KTW :
L. Pettway:
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
I never did play that . Did you ever shoot
marbles?
12
Yes , ma ' am . And throw horseshoes ' round that
pole .
And you pitch half dollars to a crack?
I never did that . I ain ' t never had .... all I
had was twenty cents a year . My daddy give me
a dime on the Fourth day (of July) and a dime
at Christmas.
We used to pitch washers . too .
What?
Metal . Round pieces of metal.
Well . us used to get those . You know, when the
peoples have to get them shoes . sugar and things .
then they went to gettin ' tokens , and we played
a lot with tokens . The one who win all them
tokens , the one who throw, you know , come on a
certain side , they come on , the one who throw
the most got all of ' em . I had a paper bag
full of I em and I tole ' ern , I said , "Well , I
ain ' t playin ' no more . 11 I got me a string and
strung ' ern and hung ' ern up . I give ' ern to
these chillun , you know I had chillun , and
every now and then I run across some of them
things . I say, "Well , sir , here one of my
0ld toys ."
My daddy used to get a book of stamps for my
shoes and things , my sister and my brother ' s
things . And I remember when the government
used to • ••• a boat would corne from Selma or
somewhere up there , corne down with this free
cheese and peanuts and different things . They
give ' ern some f ood off that boat . You had to
go down there and get it . If one of these
brothers go , in the family out of my daddy ' s
brothers , if he carry his wagon , he could bring
one of ' em what ain .' t got but a few chill un I S
stuff back , and he ' d tell ' ern down there , he ' d
tell the wife at horne, and he ' d go back and
pick this stuff up , he ' d just keep g0in ' back ,
take one of his chillun down there and pick the
stuff up ' til he get it all . They be gone to
Camden or Selma or somethin '. And if he gone ,
if one of them go , he do the same f0r them .
That ' s just the way it was .
You say you got two dimes a year? Fourth of
July and •• • . ?
Twenty cents . I got one for the Fourth of July
and one for Christmas . And that ' s what Daddy
give me . But we ' d make a broom somewhere and
go sell ' ern . I had me a ' bacca can I ' d keep
my money in . I bought my own socks for the
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KT\i :
L. Pettway :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
winter. Sometime I ' d have enough to buy a
piece of cloth and make me a dress . Me and
13
my brother , we used to get a sack of light ' ood
and sell it for a dime , sometimes fifteen
cents . We could , you know . dig up a stump .
Did you sell it in Camden , or where did you
sell it?
Right around here . To some of these people
around here . I don ' t know how old I was when
I went to Camden first time . I really don ' t
know, but I know I was grown almost .
Well , nobody went anywhere from down here for
a long time. Couldn ' t get out much , could you?
No , ma ' am. ' Cause there warn ' t nothin ' down
here but wagons . People used to .... befor e that
gin house got in here , they used to go to
Camden to gin . But I go with my Mothe r and
them far as the river and pick dewberries with
my brother , Paul . He was younger than me . My
oldest br other and my sister would go on over
there . I ' d come back home where I could take
the mules out and be with the kids . And they ' d
go on to Camden . Sometime I ' d take Paul and
Ruth and we ' d go pick dewberries and leave the
other chillun her e . And when my Mothe r and
them get back , we ' d be to the river wi th
emough dewberries for big pies.
(End Side 1 , Begin Side 2)
.•.... 1 know , I was glad . He lived on the
other side of the river. Deaf Doc lived on
this side. And we used to pay five cents to
go ' cross there , to walk across the r e . Ten cents
for a mule and a wagon . Ten cents for the mule,
ten cents for the wagon .
Well , that was a lot of money .
Yes ' m. And then some times he ' d charge twenty­five
cents for the mule and twenty- five cents
for the wagon . That ' s accordin ' to the load
you got . People used to carry cotton cross
there or gin it at Alberta . Many time my
older brother used to carry two mules . My
granddaddy ' s mules and my daddy ' s mules , to
help ' em pull the load of cotton up the hill .
Pull t hat cotton , that load , that bale of
cotton over there . Lord ha ve mercy ! . And one
year , think it was 1939 , all our corn and cotton ,
peanuts , peas , everything in the swamp got
drownded out . That July it went to r ainin ', all
that got drownded out in the swamp . He didn ' t
have nothin ' . We lived with our grandfather
the rest of that year ' til we got ready to go
to school. My daddy went to Mobile and worked
and got us some clothes and shoes .
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L . Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
14
Whe r e did you go to school?
Out there. It was Pleasant Grove then. In
the church , that where we goin ' t o school , in
the church. Its name was Pleasant Grove , but
this Boykin School got in her e . They built
that school back toward my sister ' s house , and
this other school over here , before you get
to them little schools down there . they built
that one whilst I was there . One of my
teachers was Mr . Pierce . He was the principal .
Threadgill .
Now , that Threadgill , was he the father of the
Threadgill who ' s the preacher?
No . she was a lady. And she ought to be down
there towards Pine Hill . Mrs . Dupree , she
learned me how to do a lot of drawin ' . I used
to do a lot of drawin ' out there. But after I
left school , I put all of that away , ' cause I
never could go to school but a little while .
' Cause you see , I was a plow hand and had to go
to the fields . Break up land , knGlck stalks , get
a stick and knock stalks . Dig up stumps ..
Clear up new ground . All of that .
So you just got to go to school a few weeks
every year , huh?
Few months . Last of November , December, January
and February . In March you gotta go back in
the fields. School was out in April then .
That ' s right. Was rough.
And did you take your lunch to school , Lucy?
Yes , ma ' am . We wasn ' t gettin ' no free lunch
and they wasn ' t cookin ' out there. Cousin Ada ,
you know her, she went to cookin ' when my baby
brother and my baby sister, Ruth , was goin ' to
school . We been allover there goin ' to school.
Now , she start cookin ' out there , but we used
to carry sweet potatoes and b0iled peanuts .
Sometime my mother would give us S0me slices of
meat and some milk we ' d take to school. Ice
some tea cakes , ice some cake . pie or somethin '
like that .
And some days my Mother cooked them tea cakes
and just bring a lot of ' em out there and just
give all the kids . Then that was real good .
But now , when we killed hogs , we carried sweet
potatoes and our cracklins to school . Every
now and then we'd carry some cracklins down to
school. And the older chillun used to take my
' taters and things from me . And one day I got
so mad I said . "I ' m gain ' tell my daddy and my
mama you takin ' such and such a thing away from
me. " 'Cause I figured I couldn ' t beat them , but
if it was in my own size , I ' d a jumped ' em .
And they knew you couldn ' t beat them , too ,
didn ' t they?
L . Pettway:
KTW :
L. Pettway:
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway:
KTW :
L. Pettway :
1 5
That ' s right. That the only reason they did it.
Can you make tea cakes like your Mother made?
I ain ' t never could make tea cakes like my
mother . But my sister sho ' could . My sister .
Ruth . She could really make tea cakes . Some­times
I get my mind on wantin ' some tea cakes ,
I get on the phone and say , r'Hey , I want some
tea cakes . II She tell me , rryou got a hang . II I
say , I' Hey, I nursed YOll , you didn ' t nurse me .
Make my tea cakes .'1 If I demand it , she do it .
Now, where does she live?
She live up there from the school .
up there where that big pecan , and
and things. That ' s her house .
My Grandmother used to make them .
That house
lot of cars
Lemme tell you somebody else could make some
good ' lasses bread , just make me look in the
grave with my mother . Her sister , Martha James .
That ' s Joanna mother . That ' s my mother ' s sister .
I went there one day and she had up a quilt.
I say, "Auntie , you got any home made syrup?11
She say, nUh , huh . It I say , "Gimme your thimble.
You go in the kitchen and cook me some ' lasses
bread . I dreamed last night I eatin ' some of your
' lasses bread and I got to have it . My mouth
went to waterin ', my mind goin ' crazy . Go in
the kitchen and cook me some , please , ma ' am .'1
She jumped right up and went in there and
cooked it . And I couldn ' t hardly wait . I
wouldn ' t let her know how bad as I wanted it.
I couldn ' t hardly wait ' til she got through.
We pick dewberries ' til 12 :00 o ' clock . We used
to can back in then , ' cause we had a lot of land
to hoe . We used to eat our dinner , and get our
water, put us hat on our head and go over there
in the dewberry pasture , the dewberries in the
pasture with the cows, and we ld pick cans and
buckets of dewberries and bring ' em home . Who ­ever
got to cook supper, they g0 on and cook .
Us out there washin ' them dewberries . Some of
them washin I the jars and packin I I em in ' em
and put l em in the pot . and put a fire round
there. Before we go to bed , while some of us
bathe , some of the others out there keepin ' the
fire •. Take that pack off and put some more on .
And you ' d have water in that pot?
Yes , ma ' am.
And they ' d stay all winter long?
Yes , ma'am . They ' d stay all the winter long .
1 111 probably make me some dewberry jam. It l s
rough on me makin l it , ' cause I ' m old now and I
don ' t want to do all I used to do. You got to
L. Pettway:
KTW :
L. Pettway:
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW:
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
16
strain them seed out there , you see , and get it
made . Now that plum butter, the best . Lord ,
that ' s good ! My daddy used to sit up and eat
it by the jarful. It ' s a tree used to be down
there at our dinner time , tree by our shelter,
come up there. Now , we eat plums off it ' til
we lay by in July . You talk ' bout some big
plums and some sweet plums ! Every mornin ' I
go there , just pick me a black bucket full and
a gallon bucket full and just sit there and eat
plums. And bring me some on home and then go
over in John ' s pasture and pick I don ' t know
how many plums . Make jelly and preserves , and
then I make plum butter out of some of ' em.
How you make that plum butter?
\>Jell , you peel that skin •••• You cook that plum ,
them you peel that skin off there , and you just
take the other part , that meat part off that
plum off that skin and you strain it through
a screen wire or somethin ' or ' nother . You take
it and put you some sugar in it , and then put it
in your pan and just let that sugar cook in
there , and take it out there and put it in a
jar .
Well . you have to keep stirring it . don ' t you ?
Looks like it would be easy to scorch.
That ' s right . it will . But . you know . that last
I put up, I had my other deep freezer , I put
up me some . I wouldn ' t put it in no jar. I got
me some pint plastics , and I put it in there , and
I set it in there , and I kept it all through the
time . It don ' t keep too well , I don ' t care
what kind of jar you got. It keep ' til a
certain time and it ruin. And in the plastic,
you can put it in the freezer and it keep all
the time. I get ready for somethiN ' sweet ,
I just go there and get it . and heat it up and
ea tit.
Lucy, you were talking about your Daddy giving
you a dime on the Fourth of July , did y ' all
have a picnic or something down here then?
What did you do on the Fourth?
No ' m. We had •• ••• we didn ' t go to a ball diamond .
but we had ice cream.. My mother used to make
homemade ice cream. Yes , ma ' am.
And she ' d use fresh milk and fresh eggs ?
Fresh
know ,
there
boil .
didn ' t
milk and fresh eggs and that flour .
beat that flour up in there and put
and just stir and stir ' til it come
Pour it over in there . and if you
let it scorch, it ' s real good .
You
it in
to a
You ' re making me hungry now. So you ' d make
ice cream on the Fourt h of July?
1 . Pettway:
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
1. Pettway :
17
Yes , ma ' am . We made ice cream . We ' d kill a
pig , we ' d have hog meat and then have all the
vegetables and things , and we ' d have soda water,
and if we didn ' t have soda water, we ' d have Kool
Aid . We had a big can of lemon water . My
Daddy would cut up so many lemons , then they ' d
pour Kool Aid over in there . I usually get the
food dye and put it in there and change it ,
and that was good . Then we had our own fresh
watermelon . Mush melons. Everythi·ng to eat ,
we had . Had plenty of that . That was good .
' Tater pie and stuff . Used to have plenty of
that , and chicken. We warn ' t sufferin ' for
no t hin ' like that . He was j ust givin ' us a
dime ' cause it was a holiday . I didn ' t worry
about money . Least , I don ' t worry ' bout money
now . I just want somethin ' when I need some­thin
' . I want to have some money to get some ­thin
' wi th now .
See , I raised up hard . I ' m pore and ain ' t
got nothin '. It don ' t bother me none , bu t
when the chilr un want somethin ', and I don ' t
have nothin ' to give ' em , I explain , I say ,
"Well , y ' all blessed than I was . You have to
work for somethin ' if you want it now . You
got to sho t ' nuff work. " But we worked all
through the time , and my Daddy went out there
and my brother had to go and haul wood , had
to saw wood down . A t r ee . Saw it up . We
used to rive boards . Used to saw down a pine
tree , hew it out , rive a board for our chicken
yard , and our yard . Used to have plank all
the way around our house . A fence .
lvould that keep the pigs out ?
Pigs out. Dogs out . Everything. Keep the
chickens from goin ' in. ' Cause you know they
had high board fence. And they get this old
wire what you done used ' round a fence or
somethin ', and put over the top of i t..., And
bend a heap of tha t wire down in there where
the chicken can ' t fly out there.. Keep the
chicken up . That ' s right. I said I think I
gotta fix that. I got it in my mind , but now
I neediJ some help to dig those holes , get the
poles cut and put ' em d0wn . I can ' t do what
I used to do . - But it ' s in my mind .
You know how .
Yes , ma ' am . I can do it . And if I had me
somethin ' to rive me some boards , I could
get me some poles , and I could fix my chicken
yard like I wanted it . You know, people raised
chickens back then , but they don ' t raise no
chickens now . I got plenty over here , the
dogs didn ' t eat ' em all up. But I supposed to
ha ve a hundred and somethin ' chickens. The
dogs done caught a lot of ' em. Pole cats and
minks and things caught a lot of ' em .
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
1. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTvl :
18
' Possums catch them, too, don't they?
Yes , ma ' am . Them my son ' s chickens out there .
He brought ' em from McDonald ' s . Used to work
in McDonalds at Selma . And he b0Ught six
chickens from this man , and that seed ' ern.
They died out , but they still leave the seed
here , and them hens looks just as niee. Raised
and raised nice . Got twelve roosters out there
somewhere. And nine hens. Sometime I see
eleven of them out there. Sometime I think
when I call ' em . they just don ' t come to eat .
I ' m gain' try to get me some more . Two hens
supposed to be done had some chickens. Some­thin
' broke them up . Then hens corne off then
chickens. I had one out there . sDmethin '
caught her leg . She just has a pore time
every year . She was a good chicken_. She
raised from nine to fifteen chickens . Every
time she ' d come off, she ' d have ' em all , but
somethin ' would eat ' em up .
Well , there must be something like a ' possum
0r 'a fox . ..
Or a pole cat or somethin '. And dogs. Dogs
got some of ' em . Had a hen come off with
thirteen chickens and the dog kilt the hen and
all thirteen chickens . I was out there throwin '
some water out the back door , and I saw that
dog when he caught the hen. I C0me back in
here and tried to get my shoes on and get my
gun. Hhen I went back out, lain ' t seed the
dog. I looked for my chickens , and looked
for my chickens. My little chickens . Every
time I look , I just see blood . And I come on
back in here , and way after while the dog come
back up, and I stand in my door and shot him
half in two. And I say every dog I see near
my chickens from now on , I ' m g0in ' kill him.
Now , them chickens what he et up , I coulda had
some chickens ..
Yeah, you sure coula .• Well , LMcy , what did
y ' all do Christmas?
Christmas? We ' d go to our Auntie ' s house .
Uncle Little used to have a little stand , you
know . Used to sell ginger snaps , soda water.
You know, soda water wasn ' t but five cents then.
And a five cent box of ginger snaps , you ' d get
a big box for ten cents. A box 0f ginger snaps.
Well , we ' d just get us a soda water and .ginger
snaps and bring home , when we come home . We ' d
never eat it out there. 80 we be already full
and we ' d playa little game like "Dr0ppin ' The
Handkerchief ", and "Ring Around The Roses ",
and somethin ' like that . We ' d play that on
Christmas.
Well , did you hang up stockings Christmas?
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway:
KTW :
L. Pettway :
19
Yes , ma ' am . We used to hang up sto ckings .
We get some candy and toys in ' em . Oranges and
apples . raisins and candy and different things ·.
One year I got me a sweater and a pair of
shoes . And I was happy . My brother , Richard ,
was next to me , and he got some , too . But he
died that next year after Christmas . He di ed.
He was a little boy . And he had so much sense.
He was left hand . Me and him used to play
passing licks , all the time. And I was the
oldest, but he beat me , ' cause he had a left
hand and I had a right 0ne. I tell hi m' "I
let you beat me ' cause you got a left hand ."
But he ' d give me a good beatin '. S0metime
he ' d beat me so bad , I ' d bite him and that when
he get to hollerin l . I just bite him . He ld
c r y then .
What was the matter with him . Lucy? Do you
know?
No lm, I never did know what was his trouble .
He just died . Nursin ', it ' s a burden. I ' m
tellin ' you . I really know , ' cause I waited
on my daddy . He got in bad shape . He had a
stroke , and he got so he couldn ' t help hiss elf .
That l s a burden when you got a sick person.
You got to wait on him , then jump out that room
and do what you got to do , then come back in
there . You got to run cook him somethin ' to
eat . You got to run and mop . You got to clean
up somewhere for him to be. Then you got to
wait ' til he call you again , then you got to
jump and run. You r unnin ' all the time~ . You
just don ' t never get rest . It ' s rough .
Now, he made that pretty little trim around
your hous e , didn ' t he?
Yes , ma ' am . Then he built ...• he cut 0ut a
table and made some ••. just like them little
things what up side that stove .• That ' s
when he started to put part of them en . It
was real . nice . He put it up there in Pleasant
Grove church when us was studyin ' 0 ver there .
We been in Pleasant Grove church since they
been up there . I don l t know where it is now,
but i t l s a nice table .
Well , I ' d like to see it .. I ' ll have to look
fer it ..
I don ' t know where it is , but it really was a
nice table. Made a present of the Ghur¢h of it.
All you got to have a keyhole saw... I could
make somethin l like that if I had a keyhole
saw and the lumber to saw it out with, and had
the wind and the str ength . I used to ...• l
have a table I made and put some trimmin ' all
the way ' round it , but it rotted and I throwed
it out . It wasn ' t solid like that .
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L . Pettway:
You can do anything you want to , can ' t you ,
Lucy?
20
Anything my daddy done . I did . t00 . Any thing
I put my mind to , I could do it . But , you know
what hindered me , I don ' t have the material
to go with it . like I supposed to. One day I
hope I can get it . I Cause I wan t to put me
a chicken coop and a runaway . I want to try
to make me one of them . Long as I had that ,
I could put up my youngest chickens in it and
keep ' em up . And let them other chicken go
' bout they business . They can get outta the
way. but the little chicken can ' t get outta
the way of no dog or no thin I. Bu t every thin I so
high , lady. I just can ' t get what I need . I
can ' t get what I need. I c0uld tell you now ,
I paid for one packet of candy and one package
of cigarettes . and it cost me three dollars
and somethin '. I said . "You didn ' t need to
get no silver bell candy . man . but you got it . "
I said . "Them cigarettes is killin ' you . you
don i t need them" . "Yeah . but r want I em . "
I say. 1I\I/ell . you keep smokin ' and death ' s goin'
sho ring that bell." "Now , don ' t say that . "
"Well . you killin ' yourself . I dt!lne tGld you ."
Every thin ' is so high . I 'don ' t know how we
gain ' make it.
Well . we ' re going to learn to do with0ut a
whole lot of things . just like you ' re talking
a bout~
r told Mary •.• r mean I told Margaret this
mornin ' . I say. "When I get my land out there
broke up, I goin ' get all my stuff in the
ground planted down , I feel like somethin '
dropped off my shoulders then . And I could
just set there and watch it grGw. Every now
and then go out there and do somethin l to it ..
Let it grow. II
Speak to it a little bit and tell it it ' s doing
good,.
Oh. yeah. just walk out across it real good.
Now . I got to try to get back and get me,
some cows . You know , water used to dry up
out here in July. last of June or July we had
to go way down to .• • had to pump all the cows
water . Thirty- six head of cows . thirty- six
head of hogs . We had to water when we ' d get
outta the field. It was rough, lady. I tell
you , totin ' that water . Three and fur tubs
of water . It ' s not easy.,
Well , where was the pump you got it from?
There the pump right there . And sometimes we
had the cows trained . They knowed the way to
water, and we ' d tie three or four of them
cows together. and they ' d just take out runnin '
L. Pettway:
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
L. Pettway :
21
and run on down there . And when I ' d get there
with the others , one what ain ' t goin ' act
right , they done drunk and turned ' round and
come out there and go to eatin '. But when them
others drink , I could holler at them others ,
and they ' d come on back. I bring those on .
Then somebody else gain ' get a gang of ' em .
Sometime I carried five , sometime I carried
three. Somethin' like that . Somebody else got
five and bring ' em on like that.
Did you have a trough down there to put that
water in? What did they drink out of?
We had a big fif t y gallon barrel. My daddy
cut it in two , and we had two wooden tubs
down there . And we ' d take the tin tubs and
tote the water and fill up them two and let
them drink and go back and come up again . Just
keep fullin ' I em up . And this boy, if he ' s
around . he ' ll keep ' em full for the noon of
the day while we in the field . He and the other
chillun .
But in the evenin ' time , we just full ' em back
up . Sometime we leave two of them tin tubs
down there. Well , the next mornin ' , we won ' t
have to tote none I til that evenin ' . Take
them other cows and take them on . Have our
milk cows in the field . Tie them out. And
we walk then at 12:00 o ' clock down to one
of the ponds and water r em, and when we come
home that evenin ' , we water them again . Run
the cows and us run on out the field.
You talked wi th
here , about the
broken up down
me one time when I was
time when your parents
here.
Oh , yeah , they took every thin ' .
down
got
Mr. Rentz was dead. It was his widow. wasn ' t
it?
I reckon it was his widow. I don ' t know
whether he was dead or not. But he was ... they
was sayin ' Mr. Rentz. He sont somebody over
here with a truck , they got our wagon ; all
our plows ; our mules . everything . Hoes .
Was that when you were living in the house
in front of this one?
That ' s right . All the corn we had made .
Everything . Everything . The peas , peanuts .
Every thin ' they could get, they got.
How much did your Daddy owe him ?
I don ' t know. I don ' t really know. I don ' t
know what he owed. But it didn ' t had to be
much for Mr. Rentz to get what he got . He
L. Pettway:
KTW :
L. Pettway:
KTW :
L. Pettway :
KTW :
22
didn ' t have to take all what he got , ' cause he
didn I t need that. I Cause a whole lot of •••• .
One of us wagons didn ' t have but three wheels
on it . We was diggin ' our sweet potatoes
that year . The wagon wheel , it already was
breakin ' . My daddy kept nailin ' it on . That
wheel just come off . all the way off . So
that the only wheel he left there . My Daddy
got some stuff and fixed that wheel up . And
he got an old piece of wagon from somebody up
there at Al berta . I t had four wheel s on it .
and then he had to make his own tongue and
his own couplin ' pole in there , and we had
another good wagon . When he got able . he
bought him two mules . Went on back to farmin' .
Well , the next year , the ·peoples wo r ked in the
squad , but my Daddy never did work in the squad.
He never did . And K. C. used to Ii ve over the
creek • • . he live in . . . where he live? .. he live
somewhere , but anyway, George Pettway, the man
got a house , he went to see him .. . Georgianna .
that where he live . Now he used to plow in
that squad . My Aunt Minerva and Margaret over
there , they used to hoe in that squad . My
Daddy never di d get in there . My Aunt Martha
Jane , they worked in it , but my Daddy said ,
"No , I got one mule and my daddy got a mule " -
he was livin ' on the Spur lin place over there -
Now , Papa ' d get his daddy ' s mule and go to
the fields . And he ' d plow his daddy ' s mule or
either he ' d plow his mule and they ' d farm . My
brother what was next to me . he ' ll plow
that , and we ' d hoe . That ' s the way we did .
We didn ' t work in the squad . I glad of it .
White man ridin ' right up and down the field ,
cussin ' ' em and tellin ' em what to do . I
didn ' t like that. ' Cause I gotta work anyhow .
That ' s the way it was .
Lucy, did they come on the ferry from Camden
over here to get those things when they came
and broke y ' all up?
They come from down this road , so they had
to come across the ferry .
Came down this road?
Yes , ma ' am . You know, they had a flat down
there and some skiffs , too . And see . the flat
was gain ' bring trucks and cars on this side
and carry ' em back . That ' s the way it was .
Sho ' did . And every day I see that wagon ,
I say, "Lord, have mercy. Ain ' t nobody gain '
have nothin '." But they didn ' t take all of
our sweet potatoes. ' Cause the man didn ' t
never come back. But they got some of ' em .
But they never did take ' em all .
Well , how did y ' all live that winter? ~lasn ' t
KTW :
L . Pett way :
KTW :
L. Pettway:
KTW :
L. Pettway:
23
that like in the fall when he did that?
After the people had gather ed every thin' • We
had gathered every thin ' and they wait ' ti l
they did. The r taters and ev ery t h in ' • Eve'ry­thin
' was gathered. They got it . Got every­thin
'. Got some of the peoples ' syrup . Got
some of they syrup , some of they hogs and
things . I t was rough . It was r ough . Bu t we
made it .
I don ' t see how you made it .
Well , my mother had some chickens , and we had
some hogs in t he field . Anyway, my daddy
went down the r e and built him a pen . Went in
the field and got two of them hogs we had
turned ou t . Put them hogs up and comin ' up
to Christmas , we killed two hogs . We made it .
They were kinda down in the swamp , so they
di dn ' t get t hem ?
No ' rn. Two of ' em had got out befo r e . Before
we finished diggin t t ta ter s and things. When
we finished diggin ' , peoples just tu r ned t hey
hogs out . They just rooted and start to walkin'
and go on in the swamp . That ' s the way it
was .
It broke up a lot of people . I ' m tellin ' you .
I went to axin ques t ion , I say, "Wha t Mr . Rentz
goin ' do wi th them things ?11 Wha t would he
do ? Take ' em and sell ' em t o somebody else .
He didn ' t need ' ern . He had a warehouse he j ust
put all that junk in .
(End Side 2, Tape 1)